[cttransplant85]

Originally Posted by CTartist

I am from Trumbull CT and most of my family and friends are from the Greenwich, Stamford, New Canaan, Darien and Norwalk areas. I don't know ANYONE from Fairfield County and specifically down county that moved out of CT before retirement. Frankly most people in Fairfield County make good money here and don't walk away from it before retirement to make a lot less money down south.

Where are you from in CT? What where the reasons you and your friends/family left CT? I have no doubt people are leaving for other reasons but IMO the biggest factor in these statistics are the baby boomers.

The two link you posted only show recent data and no breakdown of who is coming and going. I have been saying this along along on here. We will see this pattern until the baby boomers are all retired. I am in the last years of the baby boomers so I am a good gauge.



Look at this graph of the birth rate.
Attachment 206432

The biggest boom of the baby boomers appears to be around 1955 to 1957 when my husband and older brother were born. I predict that the rates of people leaving CT will INCREASE and only get worse. My husband hits full retirement in 2 years. Let's keep looking at the map I put up with the years on it and we will be able to see if my hypothesis is correct, OK. I believe my hypothesis will be correct because I am an Independent and I think for myself. I don't swallow any one parties BS which they use to try to get you to vote for them. Let's use logic on this as we look at the stats in the future years. I bet the years keep getting solid yellow for at least the next 4 to 6 years as they approach the height of the baby boom years.

I’m also from Southern CT. My entire family, literally every single family member I have, moved out of CT within the last decade, BEFORE they retired. We all live in the Souteast now; parents in Florida, brother in NC, Aunt and uncle in GA, I’m in South Carolina. My family should be a case study as to why CT is in the shape it is. We were all middle class self sufficient small business owners that were active in our communities that got squeezed out of the state. If you look at out migration numbers in detail less than 10% of people who are moving out of CT are doing so for retirement. Most are young people moving for career opportunities.

[GeoffD]

The median person doesn't use an interstate moving company to change states. That's corporate relocations and very affluent people.


The retirement math is pretty simple. If you can't afford to continue living in your house, you sell it and downsize. At that point, you pick a location you can afford. Unless you're 80th percentile or higher for wealth and income as a 60-something, what you pick is not likely to be a single family home in Fairfield County.


This is not a Connecticut thing. It happens in all the high cost of living places. I sat down at age 50, did the math, and concluded that I couldn't stay in my Portsmouth NH house when I retired. I opted to pull the plug then instead of waiting a decade+.


For a retiree, the stiff property taxes make it really tough to stay. The state average property tax bill is north of $7.1K. It doesn't take much of a house to have $20K in home ownership costs between taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance. After you add in health care and automobile costs, you either need a juicy pension or millions in retirement savings to make it work. Most of us don't have that juicy pension and you would run out of money on 80th percentile net worth (about $1 million) for age 60-64.

[davwve]

My in-laws (early 60's) are currently evaluating where they want to retire to in the next 3-4 years. They have been taking mini vacations to various destinations to scout locations. Staying in CT does not appear to be an option.


Other anecdotal observations: several sets of my wife's friends (early 30's) have recently left CT for southern locations (i.e. Charleston, Nashville). These are well earning couples that either have remote flexibility with their CT jobs or have careers/jobs which are easily transposed. BIL is an exception where he and his wife moved north to VT.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

For a retiree, the stiff property taxes make it really tough to stay. The state average property tax bill is north of $7.1K. It doesn't take much of a house to have $20K in home ownership costs between taxes, insurance, utilities, and maintenance. After you add in health care and automobile costs, you either need a juicy pension or millions in retirement savings to make it work.

I do agree that the taxes are higher but the average is not as high as $7000.

Connecticut
https://wallethub.com/edu/states-wit...ty-taxes/11585
Taxes on a $185,000 home: $3,733
Taxes on a $269,300 home: $5,443

The state of CT gives property tax relief up to $1250 (according to income) and many towns give additional relief on top of that. Many retirees downsize to a condo. My mom and dad did.

BTW, most of my elderly neighbors in my neighborhood in Trumbull are snowbirds and have houses down south. If they can all afford TWO houses I don't think they are hurting for money.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by cttransplant85

If you look at out migration numbers in detail less than 10% of people who are moving out of CT are doing so for retirement.

Data on that statement please with a link to it so we can all see it. Thank You.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Lalalally

I think it’s the high taxes and economy more than climate that’s driving regular people out of our state at an alarming rate this moment
We have a definite 2 more years here to get through and then we are free. Pretty sure we will stick it out beyond that though, as we are both very settled in our careers and have many more working years left in us, and are a little too old at this point to make a cosmic shift in career paths.
That said, if we want to stay somewhat quasi local (ie close enough to remaining family in NYC), it won’t be CT that we choose, but possibly northeast PA which looks pretty attractive for our retirement needs and wants.

I don't find the rate of people leaving our state to be "alarming". As discussed, most are retiring Baby Boomers. Moving to warmer climates has been happening for decades. The reason there is an uptick is that the Baby Boomers are finally at a point where they feel they can retire comfortably. Hardly worth being concerned. Jay

[Lalalally]

Originally Posted by JayCT

I don't find the rate of people leaving our state to be "alarming". As discussed, most are retiring Baby Boomers. Moving to warmer climates has been happening for decades. The reason there is an uptick is that the Baby Boomers are finally at a point where they feel they can retire comfortably. Hardly worth being concerned. Jay

Difference of opinion, then I guess. I'm not sure how much faith I put in the United Van Lines survey, but according to it only 24.20% of outbound migration in CT is due to retirement. The balance is made up of those leaving for health reasons; family reasons; lifestyle choices; and finally the largest percentage of those leaving CT -- 40.18% -- are leaving for job opportunities.


We can nit pick back and forth forever. I don't think our state is in good shape... far from it actually, and a much different place than I moved to 20+ years ago. You on the other hand are steadfast in your opinion that everything is just fine. So I guess we will all have to agree to disagree.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Lalalally

Difference of opinion, then I guess. I'm not sure how much faith I put in the United Van Lines survey, but according to it only 24.20% of outbound migration in CT is due to retirement. The balance is made up of those leaving for health reasons; family reasons; lifestyle choices; and finally the largest percentage of those leaving CT -- 40.18% -- are leaving for job opportunities.


We can nit pick back and forth forever. I don't think our state is in good shape... far from it actually, and a much different place than I moved to 20+ years ago. You on the other hand are steadfast in your opinion that everything is just fine. So I guess we will all have to agree to disagree.

You're only picking up data points on corporate moves and affluent people who actually use moving companies.


If I can't work, money is tight, and I'm forced to sell my Connecticut house to relo somewhere cheaper, I'm not going to be using United Van Lines to move. I'm going to dump 90% of my possessions and move with a borrowed pickup + utility trailer, U Haul rental, or PODS. No way I'm going to fling $5K to $10K at an interstate mover.

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by Lalalally

You on the other hand are steadfast in your opinion that everything is just fine.

I know this was posted for Jay but I don't think we (Jay & I) think everything in just fine. I realize there are problems in CT and I bet Jay does too.

The reason I want to put this thread on here is to track what is going on through the years and correlate it in regards to the baby boomers and their retirement. It sure looks like it syncs up by the first post I made. Of course EVERYONE leaving is not a baby boomer but the peak of the boomers is probably making the people moving out of CT look worse.

A lot of people on this site are to the very far left or right and do not think in shades of gray. As an Independent Centrist (and artist) I always tend to think in shades of gray.

The CT Republican premise is the CT economy is so bad people are moving away instead of seeing it in shades of gray. There can be multiple reasons and one factor IMO is the peak baby boomers retiring pushing CT to more people moving out than moving in.

I would be very worried if we didn't have this.

Connecticut remains the richest state with a per capita income of $71,033 far above the national average.
https://www.courant.com/business/hc-...328-story.html

[Lalalally]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

You're only picking up data points on corporate moves and affluent people who actually use moving companies.


If I can't work, money is tight, and I'm forced to sell my Connecticut house to relo somewhere cheaper, I'm not going to be using United Van Lines to move. I'm going to dump 90% of my possessions and move with a borrowed pickup + utility trailer, U Haul rental, or PODS. No way I'm going to fling $5K to $10K at an interstate mover.

Again, I said I don't know how much faith I put into their survey, but their survey did include (1) retirees; (2) people moving for health reasons; (3) people moving b/c of family; (4) people moving for lifestyle change; and (5) people moving for job opportunities. It wasn't limited to corporate relocations. When we are ready to leave Connecticut and move to a state that is economically advantageous for us to spend our retirement years, I will definitely be hiring a moving company. That wouldn't be considered a corporate relocation, and we are not considered affluent either. Heck I hired a moving company when we moved from House A to House B, both in New Fairfield. It was an expense that we factored into our move.